A time to break silence summary. Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam Summary 2022-12-24

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"A Time to Break Silence" is a powerful and poignant speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City. In this speech, King addresses the growing concern and opposition to the Vietnam War and the United States' involvement in it.

King begins by acknowledging the criticism he has received for speaking out against the war. Many people have accused him of straying from his core mission of civil rights and have suggested that he should focus on issues closer to home. However, King argues that the issues of civil rights and peace are deeply interconnected and that it is his moral obligation to speak out against injustice wherever it may occur.

King goes on to explain the reasons for his opposition to the war. He points out that the United States is disproportionately affected by the war, with poor and minority communities bearing the brunt of the casualties. He also argues that the war is fundamentally unjust, as it is being fought to prop up a corrupt and oppressive government in South Vietnam.

King asserts that the United States has a responsibility to promote peace and justice around the world, and that the war in Vietnam is a clear violation of this responsibility. He calls on the American people to stand up and speak out against the war, and to demand that their government bring an end to the conflict.

In conclusion, "A Time to Break Silence" is a powerful and eloquent call to action against the injustice of the Vietnam War. King's words are as relevant today as they were in 1967, and serve as a reminder of the importance of speaking out against injustice and standing up for what is right. So, the essay is all about the summary of Martin Luther King Jr's speech "A Time to Break Silence" in which he addresses the growing concern and opposition to the Vietnam War and the United States' involvement in it.

Martin Luther King, Jr., ?A Time to Break Silence? Essay

a time to break silence summary

The great merit of Martin Luther King lies in the fact that at the cost of his life he was able to show that at the center of public life, there is a person, his needs and his dignity. We must move past indecision to action. The letter makes it clear that it is critical for people to actually take a stand, instead of standing in a court contrary to what the clergymen believe. End all bombing in North and South Vietnam. I think of them too because it is clear to me that there will be no meaningful solution there until some attempt is made to know them and hear their broken cries.

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The Speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" by Martin Luther King, Jr: Rhetorical Analysis

a time to break silence summary

They will be concerned about Thailand and Cambodia. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such. For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war where armies face each other and seek to destroy. In other words, King holds that war would not lead to peace, since violence would instill fear and loss of lives rather than the development of mechanisms leading to full amity and reconciliation between all parties concerned King. His letter addresses the American society, political and religious community of America.


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Opinion/Analysis: A Time to Break Silence

a time to break silence summary

Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. These too are our brothers. An emotional connection to a movement would result in more support and effort for the movement. How do they judge us when our officials know that their membership is less than twenty-five percent Communist and yet insist on giving them the blanket name? Like any paradigm, the idea of exclusivity holds its supporters captive to the main line of argument, encouraging them to ignore and underestimate all evidence that contradicts the basic concept. As We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today.

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(1967) Martin Luther King, Jr., “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” •

a time to break silence summary

Because of his leadership, bravery and sacrifice to make the world a better place, Martin Luther King was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. King is trying to declare that there should be no war in Vietnam. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. Fourthly, King urged for the recognition of the National Liberation Front as the dominant political body in South Vietnam that should figure in negotiation efforts. In encapsulating the things needed for accomplishment to resolve the problem of peace in Vietnam, King has noted five possible suggestions. Shall we say the odds are too great? They were led by Ho Chi Minh.

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Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam Summary

a time to break silence summary

Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? He also focuses on the maltreatment of humanity, and how the Vietnam War is a start to the violence that occurs in America. He just does not think we could win with the means available. In the north, where our bombs now pummel the land, and our mines endanger the waterways, we are met by a deep but understandable mistrust. King saw peace and civil rights on the same plane of existence. This Hindu-Moslem-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of Saint John: Let us love one another; for love is God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. This letter was directed to a white group of clerics that mocked his strategies of not being violent when fighting for equality. Before responding to this question, I took a breath.

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Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence

a time to break silence summary

Whether it be emotional or ethical appeal, word choice and style, figurative devices, or many of the other possible tools he employed in his speech, every great writer and speaker is able to realize the importance of including these tools in their… Analysis Of Bullet The Blue Sky By Win Tek Poem The song concentrates on how the power-greedy United States government initiates unnecessary wars in foreign nations in an attempt to discreetly coerce other nations into adopting its political beliefs. In addition, he rightly claimed that the United States endangered its citizens sent to the Vietnam War. Work Cited King, Martin Luther Jr. For nine years following 1945 we denied the people of Vietnam the right of independence. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. He is using historical facts to create a parallel between the current situation and the past.

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A Reflection on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” Speech

a time to break silence summary

His initial reasoning for writing these letters was to answer the sincere criticism he had received from a fellow clergymen in hopes to bring about a negotiation of peace. While they both may have justifiable reason to be suspicious of the good faith of the United States, life and history give eloquent testimony to the fact that conflicts are never resolved without trustful give and take on both sides. Part of our ongoing commitment might well express itself in an offer to grant asylum to any Vietnamese who fears for his life under a new regime which included the Liberation Front. This part of the speech is evoking violent images of death that would affect the emotions of the audience. The clergymen felt that these ethnic issues should be addressed in a court room and not on the corner. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word.


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A time to break silence

a time to break silence summary

In his speeches, King is very wise because he knew the best way to have his message remembered and push forward the civil rights movement was to get an emotional response. Perhaps only his sense of humor and of irony can save him when he hears the most powerful nation of the world speaking of aggression as it drops thousands of bombs on a poor weak nation more than eight thousand miles away from its shores. Does the sins of Lyndon B. Johnson should be held the most responsible for the lives, and money lost followed by Richard Nixon, John F. They asked me how they could use analysis to form their own opinions. What must they think of us in America when they realize that we permitted the repression and cruelty of Diem which helped to bring them into being as a resistance group in the south? Martin Luther King gave his first major public address on the war in Vietnam at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City.

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Analysis Of Martin Luther King's A Time To Break Silence

a time to break silence summary

Martin Luther King Beyond Vietnam Summary Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. How can they trust us when now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of Diem and charge them with violence while we pour every new weapon of death into their land? During the Second World War Vietnam was captured by the Japanese from the French and a Vietnamese resistance organisation was formed, they were called the Vietminh. As time goes on, activists resolve these issues, but also discover new ones to work against through protests, petitions and other forms of propaganda. Both situations were conflicts that could never be resolved by violence, nor without give and take in an atmosphere of trust. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period there that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved.

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